unapologetic. representative. realistic

April 1, 2015April 7, 2015

ART: European beauty in a black world

The opening scene of the film, “Yellow Fever”.

I will not lie to you and tell you that when I was a child I never looked at my image in the mirror and wished for that long straight hair that my white friends brushed over their shoulders, the gap that seemed to keep their two thighs apart and even for the lighter skin that allowed them to be present in photos taken without a flash.

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One thought on “ART: European beauty in a black world”

Hi LJR,
I found myself nodding in agreement the whole way through reading your post. Sexual marginalization is a difficult thing to talk about because of the vulnerabilities it exposes, and so it gets less attention than it deserves. I appreciate you taking it head on.

There are large numbers of people who bear the unnecessary burden of sexual inadequacy when there is nothing inadequate about them. You are right to point out the unappreciated beauty in a black woman – not for its closeness to approximation to a European standard – but intrinsically.